Why Do We Have Standardized Testing?

Parents, teachers, and students are all tired of standardized testing. It is the only thing that rushes to their minds when they think about school. Standardized tests are tests designed to have consistent questions, administration procedures,and scoring procedures that make it possible to compare the performance of an individual. Children in the U.S are tested the most in the world. They take too much time, they don't show true knowledge, and they force teachers to put more time into teaching to the tests and not for the real world.

A Teachingabout.com “Examining the Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing,” Standardized testing allows students located in various schools, districts, and even states to be compared. Without standardized testing, this comparison would not be possible. Public school students in the state of Texas are all required to take the same state standardized tests. This means that a student in Amarillo can be compared to a student in Dallas. Being able to accurately analyze data is invaluable and is a primary reason that the Common Core State Standards have been adopted in many states. These will allow for a more accurate comparison between states.Yes, standardized tests allow students around the world to compare their scores. Although Connectusfund.org “10 Big Advantages and Disadvantages of Standardized Testing,” The tests do not really assess skill as the questions have to be generalized for the entire population. In short, the test items are not in conjunction with classroom skills and behavior. What standardized tests do is assess the general knowledge and understanding of students rather than their actual ability. Now would we really like to make students miserable by making them suffer through standardized test. So ask yourself do really think that students should take such horrifying things like standardized

Standardized testing has become a controversial topic in recent years, parents, students, teachers, principals and almost anyone who has a relationship with education is affected by this topic. People are either for or against standardized testing, some believe it is the only fair way to compare students others believe that the tests are too greatly stressed in school and are a nuisance to education. Standardized tests are stressed greatly, students learn testing material all year not focusing on anything else deemed unimportant by the test makers. Every student has the same amount of time and question on tests; they also are tested on the same subjects which the test makers believe are most important for children to learn. Standardized tests are used for many things such as ranking students on a national basis and government funding for schools.

The use of standardized tests is not something new. Everyone should know about their importance and the emphasis put on them, along with the stress that follows. There are multiple choice tests, high-stakes tests, and the dreaded time-limited tests. It is true to say not all tests are created equal; however, every one of these tests has serious flaws. Standardized tests are unfair because they fail to measure students' abilities, they cause an unnecessary amount of stress, and there are too many incentives to teach the test.

To begin with, people are against standardized testing because they believe it does not prepare them for the real life. Numerous amounts of people go into real life without knowing the basic qualities of the real world like pay taxes, how to buy a car, or how to manage their bank accounts. Schools focus so

The clock ticks on, and the school day drags slowly. As the pencil hovers over the four answers, the student sighs heavily in distress. This is how many students feel while taking standardized tests. Standardized exams have been a major part of the American education since the mid-1800s. The use of the tests shot up after President George W. Bush signed a bill known as the “No Child Left Behind Act” on January 8, 2002. The act required all fifty states to have their students take the tests. Although, the purpose of the exams was to measure a student’s and their school’s academic improvement, but this idea is incredibly flawed. Many times the tests graded unwell and many people believe that the exams are a waste, which is just a few of the many reasons that students opt out each year. However, eliminating standardized tests from a student’s educational school year is necessary because the tests cause great stress, they are unfair and the tests

Throughout the United States, in our educational system, standardized test are used very commonly throughout grade school. They are issued to student as soon as they believe children are able to understand and comprehend the material the test question them on. A Standardized test is a form of test that requires all test takers to the answer the same questions, which there is only one exact correct answer. I have taken so many standardized test throughout my life that I can't possibly remember and recount how many were issued to me in grade school. I believe there are numerous flaws in how and why standardized test are formulated and issued to students that obscure a student's true potential. Some standardized test are made to be so

Diane Ravitch once said “Sometimes, the most brilliant and intelligent minds do not shine in standardized tests because they do not have standardized minds.” Standardized test “is any form of test that requires all test takers to answer the same questions, or a selection of questions from common bank of questions, in the same way.” Different students will take the same test and then the test will be evaluated by professors to see how students did. Standardized tests also provides teacher evaluation, to evaluate if the professor is teaching the students in the right way and if students are understanding what the professor is teaching. Like many issues in education, standardized test is a controversial topic among professors, voters and parents. A lot of people believe that standardized testing is good for student and they show student’s achievements. Others disagree and believe that standardized tests don't measure student’s learning.

The United States recognizes that standardized testing is a central part of the educational system in our country. What many people do not know though is the history of where it came from. Beginning in the mid-1800’s prestigious universities decided they wanted to give more students across the country a better chance at going into higher education, but at the time there was not a way to measure the capabilities of students in both high class and low class families. This is how standardized testing came into play. If a student could do well on these tests regardless of their financial position than their scores would hopefully speak for themselves. Now standardized testing performs many more roles compared to its simple origins.

Standardized testing now days has changed and gotten a lot more helpful than it was in the past. Students are given a chance at studying what they learned and then use the studying on the test. So many teachers and educators believe that a standardized test is more important than an advanced test.

    In recent years, teachers have started to teach students how to pass tests rather than actually teaching them the material. Tests like the ACTAAP, Benchmark, Iowa, ACT, and SAT are tests that children have learned how to pass, instead of actually learning the material. The tests do not give an accurate measurement as to how smart a child actually is. Standardized tests do not test every subject that is taught in schools.

A school district’s ability to prepare students to be college and career ready is evaluated based upon standardized testing (William, 2010). Even as standardized testing has been the focus of a great deal of discussion and controversy in recent years regarding the validity of using standardized test scores to determine student proficiency, such tests have become more important as mandates such as No Child Left Behind required the use of standardized tests to determine if school districts are adequately educating their students (Kim & Sunderman, 2005). Researchers have noted that the reliance on standardized testing as a measure of how well school districts and their teachers are educating students has resulted in administrators and teachers changing their practices in order to achieve higher test scores (Supovitz, 2009). School administrators and teachers have placed much more focus on the actions that they can take in order to increase standardized test scores (Sink, 2003).

Standardized tests can be viewed by teachers, students, and parents, as helpful for the school system but in actuality they are unnecessary and detrimental to one’s academic future. Standardized testing has been used in the American school system since the mid 1800’s. This became a nationally used standard in 2002 when the United States declared the No Child Left Behind Act, which stated that all 50 states have to take standardized tests (ProCon 1). The tests have multiple-choice questions that can be quickly graded by test scoring machines. Some tests also have open-ended questions that require human grading. Standardized tests are used to test the abilities of students and to make sure teachers are teaching the information (ProCon 3). Some people believe that standardized tests are helping the students but they are really doing more harm than good.

Standardized testing is a large part of the education system today. Most schools take at least one every year. The tests were put in place with good intentions, but overall failed as a way of raising standards. Standardized tests should be removed from our schools because they have a negative effect on most school environments, effects both students and teachers emotionally, has yet to be proven to increase overall educational performance, have been proven to be biased in multiple studies, limit the creative ability that is used in the classroom setting, is not an accurate measure of a student’s intellect, it takes up valuable class time and results in overall counterproductivity.

Is Standardized testing is making our students and teachers sick? I alfon ask the question why do we need standardized? They give us a test at the end of the year to see what skills we have learned in our classes, But what is the point for a test that doesn't even help you with your grades.